pain relief/management during childbirth?

MortgageMamma

You would be suprised at how well you cope with it even just on gas and air, the fact is when your in labour your body produces masses of pain killing endorphines and you can actually feel quite high. One thing I hhave learned having had three nippers is that getting in a warm bath works wonders, but the minute you get out it hurts. So why not consider a water birth? the water will help hold your weight and ease the pain as it's kept constantly warm, the transition from womb to world is proven to be easier and less stressful for baby, and you can still have gas and air while you are in there - you also have the advantage of much more relaxed surroundings and your partner can get in with you if he wants?:o

If it gets too bad you could always elect to have an epidoodle!

Good luck and enjoy your baby when you get it!

MM

Janepig

MortgageMamma wrote:

One thing I hhave learned having had three nippers is that getting in a warm bath works wonders, but the minute you get out it hurts.
MM

Lots of people swear by this and while I was in agony I pinned my hopes on the warm bath being run for me. It made me worse!!!!! I was glad to get out. Which left me feeling worse because everyone had told me that it worked for them. It was only afterwards that people it hadn't worked for came out of the woodwork to tell me that!!!!!

Jxxx

happygal_3

With DD1 I had pethidine and it made me feel awful! Couldn't walk about and felt totally removed from situation. DD was also born not breathing and had to brought round. She was then slow to feed for the first day.

With DDs 2 and 3 I booked home births and found that walking about and having a warm bath was enough. With DD2 had a couple of swigs of gas and air but with DD3 there wasn't enough time for midwife to get her cylinder thing together!

*Sparkle*_3

Rachie_B wrote:

same here,i really couldnt get on with gas and air first time round,but 2nd time it was the best thing ever lol ,in the end hubby disconnected the mouth piece from the gas bottle and i didnt even realise / know :rotfl:

i was 17 when i had my first too and 23 on my second

woo we have a lot in common! LOL:rotfl:

Isnt it strange how you forget childbirth?

[Deleted User]

Most hospital offer a walking epidural nowadays. I had one, I didn't feel a thing when they put it in because they numb you first and even that was virtually painless. Unfortunately, I didn't benefit from it because it takes about 15 mins to work and I had my son after 3 pushes. I only used gas and air (which gave me a bit of relief, but also a bit of nausea).

Also, what helped was my DH massaging my lower back during the contractions, it made a huge difference!

If I had another baby, I'd go for a walking epidural again, they say you can feel the comntractions but not the pain and you can move around.

I had a meeting with the anaesthetist a few months before giving birth and she explained how epidurals work and how it is not true that it slows down birth or makes baby sleepy etc.

Lillibet_2

Van1971 wrote:

Most hospital offer a walking epidural nowadays.........
I had a meeting with the anaesthetist a few months before giving birth and she explained how epidurals work and how it is not true that it slows down birth or makes baby sleepy etc.

Although the name "walking epidural" or "mobile epidural" is mis-leading bacause you cannot actually walk with it, if you are lucky you might be able to feel your feet & get from the bed to a nearby chair with help, but you cannot walk. I had one!

All the midwives I spoke with (a lot, I was majorally thorough in my research!:rotfl:)all agreed that a epidural almost always does slow down the birth process although nothing is set in stone where childbirth is concerned, but it is normal for it to slow things down beacuse you can only sit up/lay down and this puts pressure on your pelvis & prevents your cervix from opening which inevitably slows things down. Never heard of it making baby sleepy, I thought that was pethedine? Just shows how conflicting the information & advice is I'm glad it's all over & done with for me:T:D (Sorry Pav!)

MortgageMamma

LOL gas and air is fantastic stuff why don't they sell it in the shops!

With Baby three I had a lot of it, the mask though as couldn't do the mouthpiece, and I remember being on all fours on this bed, watching the telly, it was about 2am in the morning and there was one of those sign language people in the corner, the guy doing the sign language looked like an evil imp all pointy and gaunt - I was in absolute hysterics, I had tears coming down my face and soon my hubby and the midwife were in hysterics. When it was time to push I will still laughing so much I didn't have the strength....the last thing I said before DS1 came our was "if the baby looks like that put him back in"

Best birth ever, was gutted when they took the stuff off me!

Janepig

MortgageMamma wrote:

LOL gas and air is fantastic stuff why don't they sell it in the shops!

With Baby three I had a lot of it, the mask though as couldn't do the mouthpiece, and I remember being on all fours on this bed, watching the telly, it was about 2am in the morning and there was one of those sign language people in the corner, the guy doing the sign language looked like an evil imp all pointy and gaunt - I was in absolute hysterics, I had tears coming down my face and soon my hubby and the midwife were in hysterics. When it was time to push I will still laughing so much I didn't have the strength....the last thing I said before DS1 came our was "if the baby looks like that put him back in"

Best birth ever, was gutted when they took the stuff off me!

That sounded like it was so much fun it almost makes me want to do it again!!!!! Anyway, I could do the c-section bit again, but no-one's mentioned how horrific having a newborn at home is. Gorgeous as they are, it's flaming hard work on no sleep. Now DS is 8 months, super handsome and sleeping like a log, and I'm back in work, my manager keeps asking me when I'm going to have number 3, but I told him he could have the words "Jane is having no more babies" written in my blood if he wants!!!!

Jxx

irchy_mum

kyle wrote:

Last baby i had an injection for pain relief but cant for the life of me can remember what it was called!

Was it Meptid? cos I had that with DD and it took the edge off -just about!:eek:
Also went to antenatal classes which were helpful and I just did the deep breathing bit,had no drugs with DS but was quick birth.

joannasmum

As demonstrated by the varied replies, different things work for different people. I was definate that I didnt want and epidural, though with back to back contractions from the off I was begging for one. Fortunately I went from 1cm to 10cm in approx 2 hours so not alot of pain really. I found the best thing was the mouth piece for the entonox to bite down on. Didnt get the epidural as the midwife sensibly decided that I was coping. The other thing that I found really useful was DH talking me through each contraction.

Have to say if I was doing it again it would be at home as I found being in hospital made me feel out of control.